victimized by jung wooyoung

In this interview, Hongjoong explained what makes Golden Hour so different from previous eras:

So, to be honest, when we were young, and before this Golden Hour series, we usually think about more about what ATINY really love, what ATINY really like it, and with timing, what kind of song where ATINY wanna listen. But during Golden Hour series, I think our members and me either, like, we have like eight different flavors of music… for the music. And we just wanna... So we did like almost eight years, like all together with (for) the, like, one song, we have eight voices and eight different flavors, but we just make songs for all together. So that makes us, like, sometimes, like this time, we just put some different genre that who like in the member, like in our group. So that's why sometimes the Latin music comes out and sometimes some kind of, like, very, like, hip-hop genre comes out, and like… but at the same time, we really consider about, yeah, we do kind of this music, but we wanna make it more ATEEZ style and also ATINY style, because ATEEZ love ATINY style originally - that's why they follow us. So we don't wanna make it, like, other groups or other artists' song, like, we just wanna make this genre with the ATEEZ style. So I think these days, we consider about everything, but like, more back then, like 2019 or 2020, that time, we just think about more, our fans love it. And these days, we think about more what we love at the same time, how we make it, fans love it. Yeah, so it's quite different (now).

What I'm hearing is, the members wanted Golden Hour to tell a story about themselves. They infused these albums with their musical passions and their personal preoccupations. I think it's such a striking distinction, going from "we have to keep making songs in the style that ATINY like" to "these days, we think more about what we love and how to make our fans enjoy it too."

There are other kpop groups who make the same kind of music for their fans, over and over again, and they don't lack for success. ATEEZ probably would've satisfied its core fanbase by continuing to make music that sounded like Say My Name or Wonderland or Inception or Guerrilla or Bouncy or Halazia or... wait...those are very different kinds of songs...

Honestly, I do understand what people mean by feeling nostalgic for "old" ATEEZ: they miss the cohesion of music, lyrics, concept, styling, promotion that told a complete story across multiple albums in a series. This was reinforced by a production team that remained largely consistent during those eras; as some members of Edenary left to pursue their own music, they invited outside producers to participate in developing the Golden Hour albums, contributing to the experimental diversity of this series.

According to Hongjoong, Golden Hour was not conceived or planned out like earlier eras.

So actually, Golden Hour, we didn't plan whole thing before we started this series, but we made some, when we started to make some tracks, or like, when our producing team gave us some good music, we just think about, like, ‘oh, this is the timing or not’ and ‘this is what we wanna say now,’ or we just keep it, and then we wanna bring some this vibe for the, this timing, like that. We always, always discuss everything and sometimes we change the lyrics for fit on this timing, like that.

Of course, Hongjoong adds, there's nothing stopping them from going back to those concepts after Golden Hour wraps up

What I found in this interview was that Hongjoong doesn't really mention Fever, which is arguably the series with most in common with Golden Hour. I recently embarked on an album crawl through the entirety of the ATEEZ discography, and the musical shift from Treasure to Fever is abrupt and jarring, though not unpleasantly so. It's also an era filled with musical experimentation and diverse themes. I wonder how ATINY reacted at the time?

What i'm trying to say is, change is a constant for them.

If you listen to Hongjoong describe what they're trying to achieve with Golden Hour and then you listen to the albums, you might see what I see: a lack of cohesion doesn't mean lack of continuity; experimentation doesn't equal lack of intentionality.

In fact, I'd argue the Golden Hour project has a lot to really interesting things to say about the mindset of eight people who have achieved success beyond their wildest dreams. While I've read some incurious takes that reduce these albums to "songs about fame, sex, and money," I would instead suggest that these topics are jumping off points for a more nuanced discussion about the ephemerality of "the brightest moments in life," as spoken in the introduction to the Golden Hour series.

Could living for the moment leave Our hearts feeling emptier? Could these be the real golden hours Of our lives?

In title tracks like Work and Ice On My Teeth, the struggles and gains of material success are conveyed with a kind of braggadocio reminiscent of their Fever era:

We're sky high right now

Chew 'em up and keep em' shut

In Siren, Mingi addresses the "critics" who once tried to diminish ATEEZ's popularity overseas:

Broke down this era, those critics are not fine Born with natural talent, and luck is also a skill, prime-time Altogether, what worldwide? It is gonna be great, worldwide

In Ice On My Teeth, Hongjoong compares ATEEZ to cranes:

I'm a crane, finding and wrapping myself in icy things Celebrate it, since it's rare to see in this country

He explained in their production behind video that "cranes are migratory birds and also natural monuments. As we increase our value as artists, we wrote the rhyme and punchline with the ambition of becoming a great artist."

Ambition remains a potent motivator in a song like Adrenaline, which was the first title track post-contract renewal.

Our existence alone is the guarantee Gauge never dropping (Oh, gauge) Full charged to the max (Full max) Hardcore, that's the way we do it No limit, no gimmick, go get it all day

In NASA, Hongjoong and Mingi hammer the point home:

It's ironic, even after becoming a star, I still fire rockets Watch your heads, we spit fire without restraint It's scary, my life keeps turning red like Apple stock Up and down, ants falling, prey for Wall Street Harvesting stars, adding and subtracting, dropping them, cold collector I'm the creator of even the fall, yeah, my value is different

This is where I observe how a lot of the connective tissue in the Golden Hour series is directly attributed to Mingi and Hongjoong's self-composed lyrics, and I think there's something to be said about them being messengers for the rest of group.

Because while there is much triumph and boasting to be had in Golden Hour, it's balanced by an undercurrent of tension and unease.

If in Treasure, ATEEZ were chasing their dreams, then in Golden Hour, the members seem to be running from something. In dance-heavy songs like Blind or Shaboom, or even smoother r&b tracks like Masterpiece, their pursuit of sexual satisfaction is often framed as a desperate attempt at distraction.

Things that change are love and youth, things that don't change are love and loca

Life continues to flow, busy  Everyone grows old in front of time  We need mindless play time  Make it louder, make it louder

Songs like Lemon Drop, Man on Fire, and Ghost describe the almost narcotic effects of desire as a means to escape from reality:

Every day, I’m losing The focus of reason Taken over daily By the fever of instinct I'm losing my mind, I'm losing myself

The summer night burns hot Just you and me, it's our own little party Yeah, I feel the heat going crazy 

A warning message saying, “there’s no way out” I whisper in your ear, “don’t say it out” It’s already too late to turn back, know you want it more, more than me

In a song like Castle, this message is quite direct:

Let go of everything Take my hand, just you and me Let's escape to that place To a castle just for us, yeah

What are they running from?

In Deep Dive, arguably the most autobiographical of their recent work, Mingi raps about "altitude sickness," saying "the higher I go, the thinner the air gets." Meanwhile, Hongjoong employs the metaphor of an ocean plunge to describe the sense of displacement he feels in the wake of an unprecedentedly busy time in their careers:

Swimming, I reached L.A After stopping by Paris, my reality is back in bed Burying my face, barely catching my breath, I just wanna live a real life Where am I now, and how far will I go? At the end of a deep night, I’m a diver submerged Struggling with emotions, unable to resolve even one Searching for something, every day I’m left drowning again I said I couldn’t go deeper, but here I am, deep diving all night here

In the chorus, the members sing:

Right now, I’m deep diving, drifting away The city’s night feels a little hollow Keep in mind, gotta get used to it, huh?

Run away (Run away), run away (Run away)

Castle addresses this as well, especially in Mingi's rap:

The anxiety creeping in late Like thorns stuck in my head, they won't come out It seems it's too much to handle alone now

In Now This House Ain't a Home, they make it clear you can't go back, but the pursuit of a future is riddled with even more doubt:

The anxiety that comes with night Is a bitter taste that's hard to bear I swallow it down, tears well up A sudden rain shower blurs my vision I endure one day, then one more Hoping that someday I'll reach that place 

In Selfish Waltz, Hongjoong writes about a toxic relationship ("we can't escape this endless cycle") that may gesture at a broader feeling of fatigue with the endless comeback cycle.

Yeah, with forced gestures, predictable moves The next step feels meaningless Yeah, there's nothing left to ignite

I'll argue that the solo songs also engage with the broader appeal and consequences of success, and how issues like privacy, surveillance, competition, theft, identity, individual expression, artistic agency, loss, and legacy remain urgent concerns in their lives.

Golden Hour addresses ephemerality, of things slipping through their fingers. In Empty Box, the members sing to a former lover, with whom "those shining memories seemed like thеy would last forever"

Feeling the same way I wish you better than, oh, our time together Leave everything behind Hope you come across something more than better

Couldn't the same sentiment be applied towards ATINY?

What I find so interesting about the Golden Hour series is the maturation in ATEEZ's relationship with ATINY, for better or for worse. Yes, we remain the reason for their existence, as recited in Choose: "'Cause what defines us starts from you, not me," but we have also moved on from existing as a kind of passive/abstract source of good fortune in their lives, as captured in Hongjoong-produced tracks like Aurora or Star 1117.

Of course, there are songs like Enough, On The Road, Choose, and even Sagittarius, that are very much in the "classic" mode of ATEEZ as yearners, dreamers, who will overcome obstacles with the help of ATINY.

As conveyed in Enough, in the midst of self-doubt, anxiety, and fear, there's a way out:

I remember shadows growing darker, yeah Then the morning broke with a brighter sun, yeah

But I would argue there's a counter-narrative (or meta-narrative) threaded through other songs in this series, one that pokes and prods at the boundaries between idol and fan.

In songs like In Your Fantasy or, more recently, Mamacita, we (ATINY) are invited into a world of play.

Come take a seat in your fantasy Come here, beautiful, come here, beautiful

There is a distinct element of fan-service in these songs, for which your milage may vary. They certainly invite parasocial behavior, but I would argue we've already breached that threshold in this fandom.

On a lighter note, a lot of their Golden Hour songs involve more participation from ATINY than in previous eras. This seems to be by design, from injecting catchy English lyrics into their music (they invite us to sing the opening chorus of Work at every tour stop) to creating fan-chants that practically service as lyrics for a song like Ice On My Teeth, where the outro is completely silent save for our screams of HONGJOONG SEONGHWA YUNHO YEOSANG SANNIE MINGI WOOYOUNG JONGHO ICE ON MY TEETH GOLDEN HOUR AT-EE-Z!!

They created a space for us in their music.

These tensions and themes have come to a head in Golden Hour: Part. 5, which has encountered some divided reactions among the fandom. Personally speaking, I really enjoyed this album and it continues to grow on me. Song for song, I think it's one of the stronger entries in the Golden Hour series.

BAD is a big swing (positive) and it's a slam dunk performance; Mamacita is nearly flawless, with an irrepressibly catchy chorus and some of my favorite MinJoong raps in a minute; TOXIN has beautifully repetitive vocal sequences that tickle my brain; Fallin' could've been released on one of the World albums and utilizes Yeosang's distinct voice to haunting effect; and Body is just...so damn good!

If ATEEZ's earlier "summer" albums were about adolescent yearning, than Hongjoong aptly describes this album about "mature love." The songs are about messy, complicated feelings. The album ends not on the usual hopeful or triumphant note, but instead with an abrupt cut after Mingi's ominous lyric:

No matter how hard I try to erase it, I'm trapped in the same night, over and over again

Sounds familiar, right? Golden Hour is telling us something. You can read into these lyrics to find clues for the lore (are we trapped in a dream? are we trying to escape?) or to find metaphors for very real, adult issues.

Maturity is a point I'll end on, because I think one of the more interesting and challenging aspects of ATEEZ's discography is how much it resists stasis. There is no one ATEEZ style of music, as confirmed by the members themselves. Instead, when describing ATEEZ, you use words like "passion" "energy" and "freedom." This mindset liberates them to continue growing and experimenting as artists. As Hongjoong said in his interview, they want to invite ATINY to share in that process.

Moreover, ATEEZ sets themselves apart by making music for a maturing fandom. While there is appeal in stanning a group who continuously makes music for my inner fifteen-year-old, I relate more to artists who make music about adult themes and issues, which I wouldn't reduce to being merely about "sex, money, and fame."

Additionally, their goals as artists have never been incompatible with their ambitions for commercial growth; sure they make music "for the arts" but they also make music "for the charts," and this tension animates their discography in fascinating ways.

As with every installment in the Golden Hour series, I'm left wondering where we'll go next. Hongjoong is coy about an ending or epilogue. It's still their Golden Hour, and ours too.